The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for securing artificial turf around airports or airfields and more specifically to systems and methods for adhesively installing artificial turfs around airports or airfields.
Airfields, including military airfields, small airfields and large commercial airports often have natural grass surfaces adjacent to the airport runways and taxiways. Those natural grass surfaces are difficult, time consuming, expensive to maintain and are aesthetically unpleasing. Natural grass surfaces can also create a number of safety problems for departing and arriving aircraft and potential safety problems relating to the clean-up of hazardous waste spills and to the use of pesticides and herbicides necessary for proper upkeep of the grass.
Various systems and methods have been developed for installing and securing artificial turf around airport runways and taxiways to help solve some of the problems associated with existing natural grass surfaces. For example, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2010/0030709 to Carr, which is assigned to the assignee of the present disclosure, teaches various systems and methods securing the artificial turf near a runway or taxiway. One such method uses a header system. The header system generally includes a composite stud member that serves as an anchor onto which the artificial turf is attached and/or a member that protects the edge from high velocity engine jet blasts and forces of natures (e.g., high winds) that can cause the artificial turf to fly-up or become removed from an underlying base material. In one such system, the artificial turf is glued to a header or stud member that is porous. The porous header can be glued to the runway or taxiway.
Using header systems to securely install artificial turf adjacent to runways or taxiways, however, has its own problems. For example, a header system can be costly to install due to the time (i.e., labor costs) and related material costs.
In another known system for securing artificial turf adjacent to runways, which is also disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2010/0030709 to Carr, the artificial turf is secured to a base material (e.g., sand or crushed rock) located under the runway using mechanical pinning or attachment devices, or secured merely via the weight of the base material. However, these known systems and methods for securing artificial turf adjacent to runway or taxiways can also be costly.
A need accordingly exists for an improved system and method for securing artificial turf adjacent to airport runways or taxiways.